2018 Football Preseason Preview: Samford

Throughout this preseason, Purple & Gold will preview all of Western's 2018 football opponents.

For the fifth game of the season, we'll look at the projected conference preseason #1 Samford Bulldogs. The Cats travel to Homewood, AL for what will be the second straight road game.

Since Samford joined the Southern Conference in 2008, Western is 3-12 against the Bulldogs after last season's four-point upset win over the #17 nationally ranked Dogs in Cullowhee.







Samford

When: Saturday, October 6 - Time  TBA

Where: Seibert Stadium, Homewood, AL

Radio: Catamount Sports Network

TV/video: ESPN+ /  ESPN3

Games that will be played by the Dogs this season prior to the WCU contest:  The Bulldogs will have played 5 games prior to the Catamount visit to Seibert.  The Bulldogs open against Shorter College (home), then travel to Florida State, then return home to face Mercer. The Bulldogs then travel to Chattanooga and Kennesaw State prior to Western's visit.

The Series: The Cats are 3-12 overall against the Bulldogs since winning the first outing back in 1969. Samford owned an eleven game winning streak against Western until 2015 when the Cats broke that streak in Cullowhee with a 56-36 win over the Dogs. The Cats are 2-5 against the Dogs in Cullowhee, and 1-7 in games played in Birmingham.

Last game played vs. Samford: (Sept. 24th, 2017)  - Catamount Score Thrilling Upset Win Over #17 Samford -  Western Carolina tailback Detrez Newsome rumbled for a go-ahead touchdown, hitting the right pylon to put the Catamounts ahead with 93 seconds remaining in regulation on Saturday night at E.J. Whitmire Stadium / Bob Waters Field. But it wasn't until a last-second pass deflection would allow what remained of 12,018 fans to unleash a post-game celebration that was over a decade in the making. Senior defensive back Keion Crossen batted away a pass attempt in the back of the end zone as time expired on the final play of the game as Western Carolina upset the 17th-ranked Samford Bulldogs, 38-34, in the Southern Conference opener for both squads. The victory was WCU's first over a nationally-ranked NCAA Football Championship Subdivision team since 2006, halting a 27-game slide.

Head Coach: Chris Hatcher.  Hatcher was named Samford’s 36th head football coach on Dec. 11, 2014. His career record is 121-57 in 15 years as a college head coach at Murray State, Georgia Southern, and Valdosta State. Hatcher served as the head coach at Murray State since 2010.and had five seasons with the Racers, Hatcher’s teams employ the high-powered “Hatch Attack”. Hatcher came to Samford after serving as the head coach at Murray State University from 2010 to 2014. In five seasons as the head coach of the Racers, Hatcher’s teams employed the high-powered “Hatch Attack” offense to top the Division I-FCS football charts. In 2014, the Racers ranked second in the nation in passing offense, averaging 327.2 yards per game. The team also ranked 15th in total offense at 468.3 yards per contest.

Last Season's Record (Samford): 8-4 overall, 5-1 home, 3-3 away,  6-2 SoCon  - conference losses to Western Carolina & Chattanooga - First round loss in NCAA FCS playoffs to #16 Kennesaw State

Offensive starters - Returning/Lost:  10  /  1

Defensive starters - Returning/Lost:  6  /  5

Specialist - Returning/Lost:  4  /  2

Lost from 2-Deep Roster - 13

Offensive Formation: Multiple

Defensive Formation: 4-3

Key losses: DT - Ke’Tyrus Marks, MLB - Deion Pierre, WLB - Shaheed Salmon, CB - Omari Williams, FS - Carter McManes, SS - Sam Pettway, WR - TD Marshall, P/KO - Austin Barnard

Top returnees:  Preseason All-American and SoCon Offensive Player of the Year, Devlin Hodges; Preseason All-American and SoCon Defensive Player of the Year, Ahmad Gooden

Three national publications have the Bulldogs ranked in the top 15 nationally preseason, and two have Samford as the favorite to win the Southern Conference title in 2018. Senior defensive lineman Ahmad Gooden was named to the preseason All-America team by Street & Smith's, Athlon Sports and Lindy's Sports. Senior quarterback Devlin Hodges earned preseason All-America honors from Street & Smith's and Lindy's Sports.

Samford returns 10 starters on offense and six starters on defense from a team that went 8-4 overall and 6-2 in Southern Conference play last season. The Bulldogs have reached the NCAA Division I-FCS Playoffs in back-to-back seasons for the first time since the 1991 and 1992 seasons.

The Bulldogs lost two assistant coaches in the offseason, DL coach, Victor Cabral and running backs coach, Derrick Foster


2017 Samford Statistics
Rushing Offense: 954 yards
Yards per game: 79.5
Yards per rush: 2.8 yards
Rushing 1st downs: 68
TDs rushing: 8
Passing Offense: 4001 yards or 333.4 yards per game
Passing 1st downs: 176
Passing Comp-Att-Int: 349-531-11
TDs Passing: 31
Total Offense: 4944 yards or 412.9 yards per game
Fumbles-Lost: 22 - 9
3d Down Conversions: 66 of 166
4th Down Conversions: 7 of 16
Field goal attempts:  12 - 17
PAT-Attempts:  41 of 43 - 95%
Red Zone Scores: 25 of 47 - 53%
Red Zone Touchdowns: 25 of 47 - 53%
On-Side Kicks:  0 - 0
Penalties-Yards:  53 - 505 Avg. per gm 42.1
Punts-Yards: 60 - 2614  Avg. punt: 43.6
Sacks:  28


Game prediction:  Per the Massey Ratings, the Cats have a 25% probability of winning (27-35) over the Bulldogs.

According to Massey, Cats should be 3-2 after this game.  I'm going to disagree, the Cats are 4-1 after this game.

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